Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is planning to lay off 3,000 employees through a voluntary retirement scheme this year to reduce its annual losses by Rs4.5 billion ($28.26 million). The Pakistani government approved the national flag carrier’s voluntary separation scheme (VSS) to remove the employees from service. PIA management is now seeking about Rs12.7 billion from the government to compensate them.
Recruitment agencies fear Pakistani nationals will lose job opportunities to Indians after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has suspended issuance of work or employment visas to 13 Muslim-majority countries including Pakistan. In fact, since the ban came into effect on 18 of November, one recruitment agency alone in Rawalpindi has lost 3,000 jobs which have now been diverted to India by its client.
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has announced that it will not recognize two-year bachelors’ degrees issued to students enrolled in such programmes after the 2018 academic year. The notification stated that despite the HEC’s decision to phase out two-year BA/BSc programmes after the academic year 2018, it had been noted that the programmes are still being offered by universities, the DAIs and their affiliated colleges.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has called for chemical castration and death penalty for convicted rapists during a meeting of the federal cabinet. The PM has instructed the law ministry to draft an ordinance within a week to curb violent sexual crimes that mostly target women and children. The federal cabinet has approved in principle the rape law.
A special permit by the Pakistan government has allowed Vice President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai Mohammad bin Rashed Al Maktoum to “export” 150 falcons of rare species from Pakistan to the UAE. The permission was issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and delivered to the UAE’s embassy in the federal capital.
Two talented Pakistani women, Sania Nishtar and Mahira Khan have been featured in BBC’s list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2020. Sania is the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection and Mahira is a globally renowned Pakistani actor. Sania has been featured under the knowledge category and Mahira under creative.
The federal government has finally issued a permit to transfer Pakistan’s only Asian elephant, Kaavan, to Cambodia. Kaavan, the 35-year-old bull elephant was brought in Pakistan back in 1985 as a gift from Sri Lanka when he was one-year-old. However, after international condemnation due to the woeful state of Islamabad’s zoo, all animals were ordered to be moved.
A short film about a Pakistani construction worker at the Dasu Dam in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has won an award at the second Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Short Video Competition in China. The contest aims to share the stories of builders and communities involved in BRI — Beijing’s multibillion dollar push to develop geopolitical ties through infrastructure and ports.
Four genius students of the Usman Institute of Technology’s (UIT) electrical engineering department have designed an equipment can generate power from storm water drains. The project can significantly help alleviate Karachi’s power woes by sharing the burden of K-Electric, the city’s sole power supplier. The cost-effective, low-maintenance electricity generation and distribution equipment, or their final-year project, is named Burraq.
The Education Ministry of Pakistan signed an MOU for the launch of the country’s first radio school. A joint venture of the government and Radio Pakistan, the radio school will help educate over eight million children across the country. It will run educational programmes for four hours every day from 10am to 12pm.